The Lincoln Lawyer season 1, episode 6 recap – “Bent”

This episode of The Lincoln Lawyer is about the kids and history. Mick has a flashback when he meets a man (played by Elliott Gould), Legal Siegal (seriously). He used to work for his father, Mick Sr (an unrecognizable Jon Tenney). Haller watched his father work the media while sitting with his mother in the court hallways. He learns a lesson that it is not always about the money but defending the innocent even if they do not have any.

Seeing a dead body raises ethical dilemma questions for his daughter, Hayley. She wants to know what ethical lines he crosses. He tells her he will never defend anyone who hurts children, which is oddly not comforting since he said he would protect murderers, no questions asked. Hey, this is the real world, not the Disney channel. So, he asks Maggie to bring her during his opening arguments, most likely to show her what he does and why he does it.

The rest is about the judges. Mickey thinks the bribe Griggs brought up may have gone to Judge Stanton, the current judge at the Elliott trial. He wants Cisco and Lorna to look into it. He is an elected official, so his financials are an open book. Mick also meets Judge Holder. Unfortunately, Haller was running behind because Lorna gave him the message late. Holder wants him to donate to the charity of his choice as punishment. Holder isn’t all bad though. She just wanted a status update and to make sure Haller was doing okay because of his past addiction issues. Sweet, but does anyone else find this weird? There is something off about this judge. Keep that thought in your back pocket.

Moving onto Mickey and Trevor’s relationship, he asks Elliott about a 100,000 payment that is unaccounted for in Jerry’s bookkeeping. Mickey then lays a trap, asking Elliott if he remembered Jerry requesting the money for a murder reenactment. He replies, a little bit lamely, “Oh, that. You know what? Now that you mention it, yeah, he did.” When Mick returns to the car, he tells Izzy people are lying to him.

Mickey’s trigger was the case of Jesus Menendez. He is Haller’s unicorn, the one who may be innocent. This is what got him to become an addict, not the accident but the guilt that he could not save an innocent man. He visits him in prison and begs him to give Mickey a second chance to get him out. The guilt is killing him and could lead to a relapse.

Maggie is also having quite a week. Her boss asks her to speak at a gala supporting her campaign. However, her contender approaches Maggie, basically for his support. Robert Cardone tells her that he will give her the tools to do her job effectively and not use his position as a stepping stone to something bigger and better. Mick also negotiates a deal with her to get her protection and one-year financial support. Maggie told him she would see what she could do.